Fire screen



A. GROMES FIRE SCREEN Filed May 16, 1954 March 19, 1935.

ADOLDH GROMES INVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 19, 1935 UNITED, i STATES;

PATENT oFFIcE 4 Claims.

My invention deals with fire screens, and more particularly with firescreen hingeing means which will keep the space betweenthe panels at aminimum.

One of the objects of fire screens is to present a solid front againstthe fire so as to prevent any escape of burning embers. A screen of onebig panel is inconvenient being clumsy and unsightly, and also unable tostand firmly by itself. For these reasons the screen is usually made byhingeing a number of smaller panels together. The panels comprising ascreen of this type are hinged together and stand semi-circularly aroundthe fire place. They are'convenient in sizeand look well but do notfunction perfectly. as the hinges cause an appreciable open spacebetween the panels permitting sparks and-embers to pass through. Inaddition, the panels or their hinges become loose or wear with theresult ..that the panels do not fall true and the panels will not standvertically and adjoining panels will not remain parallel. This causesthe screen to stand unsteadily and also creates an unsightly andslovenly appearance as well as permitting a wide and uneven spacebetween the panels.

The object of my invention is to produce a paneled screen which has aminimum of space between the panels. A further object is to produceapaneled fire screen in which the hingeing means will always keep thepanels parallel and cause them to stand vertically and fall true.

To accomplish these objects I construct a vertical rod in each of thepanels near an adjacent panel and place part way around the rods neartheir ends a hinge plate, both ends of which are forked to fit incorresponding horizontal grooves in the vertical rods. To hold the hingeplate and rods in proper position together, I place over them a capwhich is held by a screw passing through the cap and threaded into thehinge plate and I construct a similar hinge plate and cap means overboth ends of the rods.

Further and more specific objects, features and advantages will moreclearly appear from the detailed description given below taken inconnection with the accompanyingsheet of drawing which forms a part ofthis specification.

Fig. 1 is an elevation of a two paneled fire screen; Fig. 2 is aperspective assembly of the hingeing means; Fig. 3 is a plan view of adetail showing part of the hingeing means; Fig. 4 is a section along theline 44 of Fig. l, (diminished).

In the drawing, 1 represents a fire screen panel having the frame 2 andscreening 3 fitting in-' (01. 126-202), I a 7 side the frame. Inaddition therpanel is-provided with the legs 4 and also the ornamentalscrew figuration 5 on the upper part of, the frame.

In-order to form the two panels together into a single screen and toprovide a hingeing means for joining the two panels -1 so that they canstand firmly and easily and at an angle to one another I provide thehingeing means 6.

The hingeing means 6 is comprised of two vertical rods 7, the plates 8which fit part way around the rod ends, the cap 9 covering over theplate 8 and the rod ends, and the screw 10 which passes through andholds therods cap and plate together. The screw 10 is somewhat similar'to the ornamental part 5 and presents a similar design to the parts5'so as not to mar the symmetry of the'tops of the screens. A similarhingeing means to 6 is constructed at the bottom offithe panel exceptthat in place of the screw 101a screw 11 is used which'is' similar tothe part4 in design;

and of the proper size so that the lower parts of the screen will lookalike and stand evenly.

The rods '7 extend inside throughout the length of the side part of theframe and project through and slightly above the upper part and belowthe lower part of the frame near an adjacent panel. The parts above andbelow the frame are provided with parallel horizontal grooves 12 one oneach side of the rod above the upper frame part and below the lowerframe part. Thus each rod has four parallel horizontal grooves two ateach end, one on each side. The ends of the plates 8 are provided withextendingarms 13 which fit into the grooves in the rods while the rodfits into the space 14. between the arms 13. The arms 13 extend adistance equal to the diameter of therod so that when the rod is inplace between the arms, the end of the arms and the part of the rodfurthest from the center of the plate are in line. Thus the cap whichfits over the plate and around its edges can press against the outerside of the rod and hold the rod firmly in position and prevent it fromrattling and from slipping outfrom between the arms. Two plates 8 andtwo caps are provided one for the upper ends of the rods and the otherfor the lower ends.

The distance between the rods is slightly greater than the sum of thedistances from the rods to their respective panel ends. The difierenceof these distances determines the opening between the panels and byconstructing these two distances nearly equal the opening between thepanels can be'reduced to a minimum. (A

minimum clearance must be allowed to rotate the panel ends).

The screws 10 and 11 extend through holes 16 in the cap and screw intothe threaded holes 15 in the plate. In this way the linkage of the rods7 and the hinge plates are held together by the plates fitting into thegrooves in the rods and by the cap covering and holding the rods andplate together and by the screw fastening the cap against the plate. 7

By placing the plate arms into the grooves, the rods are prevented fromrotating individually and a complete unit is formed, the parts of whichcannot move relatively, once they have been placed in position. Thislinkage acts as a hinge as each panel can rotate about its own rod toform any angle with the adjoining panel and in addition the linkage canrotate about either panel, either with or without the rotation of one ofthe panels. As the two rods must always remain parallel being held so bythe plates, the two panels must always remain parallel. and alwaysfalltr'ue. I r

the linkage can rotate about the panels a position of the panels can beobtained by which the end of one'panel is in back of the adjoiningpanel, thus presenting anoverlappingsolidfrcnt to thefir place. A V 7Asanymovement or rotation of anypanel is always about a rod. there is notendency either toiloosen orto cause'wear to the plate cap or screw orh-ingeing means as a whole and for this reasonthe hinge alwaysremainstight and the linkage function's properly. 7 V

Itis evident that this hingeing means maybe used in connection withother than fire screens and: for; other hingeing purposes and so while lhaye described my improvements in great detail-and with respect to firescreen panels only, I donot wish ;to be limited thereto. As the detailsdescribed and the drawing shows only one form of my invention and sincemany changes and modifications may be made in the same invention withoutchanging or departing from the Spirit and scope of the idea, I desire tocover all modifications, forms and embodiments coming within thelanguage or scope of any one or more of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A paneled fire screen having panels, a rod held in each of saidpanels extending above and below' said panel, said rod having horizontalgrooves therein near the rod ends, plate means at the end of said rodshaving arms, said arms extending in said grooves in the rods, andcapping means holding said plate means and rod ends.

2; A paneled fire screen having panels, a rod held in each of saidpanels extending above and below said panel, said rod having horizontalgrooves therein near the rod ends, plate means at the end of said rodshaving arms, said arms extending in saidgrooves in the rods, cap holdingsaid plate and rod ends and a gripping means holding said capagainstsaid plate means.

,3. A paneled fire screen having panels,- a rod held vertically, looselyin each of said panels, said rodshaving parallel grooves, plate meanshav ing arms extending in said grooves, and capping means holding saidplate means androds together;

4. A pair of elements to; be hinged including a rod passing through eachelement, each rod having atits-ends a grooved portion, a pair of linksadapted to retain the ends of the rods together, each link including aforked element engaging said grooved portions and a clampingmeansadapted to hold saidforkedelement securely to said rods.

1 ADOLPH GROMES.

